rainwater harvesting

[mendocino queen honey]

A couple of night s ago i saw a really interesting presetattion by Brad Landcaster, i think he is a hydrologist from AZ.

http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/

Very cool the way the're turning dusty unban phoenix streets into oases.
They did some media event in LA where they shot firehoses at the roof of one of their retrofitted houses at the rate of 4000 gallons in 10 minutes and not so much as a cup of it went into the storm drains.

Implications are huge for the parched west. Could be very well spent money if the govt comes on board:)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHi4IU7JQ5Q

[dragonfly]

I personally love the idea, and if DH didn't object, I'd have a big ole cistern sitting on one corner of the house to collect the huge amount of run-off, but since he pays his half, I feel obligated to try and keep the place looking socially acceptable. ;) Anyway, rainwater storage is a great idea. If not used for drinking and other household stuff, just using it for watering the garden can save on the water bills.

[Jeffrey Todd]

I love the idea, too, and have thoroughly looked into it for our area. At this point in time, it does not make economic sense, but I will stay on the lookout for ways that it could.
I would love to have a big ol' farm tank at the back of my house!

[dragonfly]

I would love to have a big ol' farm tank at the back of my house!

There's company called "Texas Cisterns" that builds and sells some pretty neat looking cisterns (as far as cisterns go;)). In fact, I think it may be down in your neck of the woods somewhere. Have you looked at their website? It's been a couple of years since I have, but I bet they are still in business.

[Jeffrey Todd]

Thanks, DF. Those ARE nice-looking tanks. I would buy one, too, except that I am on the far side of thrifty, edging into cheap. :)

[Hambone]

I personally love the idea, and if DH didn't object, I'd have a big ole cistern sitting on one corner of the house to collect the huge amount of run-off, but since he pays his half, I feel obligated to try and keep the place looking socially acceptable. ;) Anyway, rainwater storage is a great idea. If not used for drinking and other household stuff, just using it for watering the garden can save on the water bills.

For the gardens around here we have a electric/gas pump to pump out the pond water to the garden. Best part is once you start the pump and the water starts to flow. You can shut off the pump. (couple minutes) Water keeps on flowin. Shut the valve off when your done. But don't forget to shut off the valve!

[CSShaw]

Ya know, i once had me a house that 4000 gallons fell on sure enough, and not one drop went down the drain too. It went in the bedroom, the living room, the dining room--amazing how much water a trailer will hold ;).

Cisterning and reuse of rainwater is amazing and there is no end to the little gadgets one can add in to make it all work better.

Chrissy

[dragonfly]

Thanks, DF. Those ARE nice-looking tanks. I would buy one, too, except that I am on the far side of thrifty, edging into cheap. :)

:D. Well, when you win the lotto....;)

[Bizzybee]

Cisterns are becoming a big business around here over the past couple of years. If you want to have a nice looking yard there is no other way. Water restrictions are here to stay in the Atlanta metro and I expect to see them in more and more places in the Southeast as time and population progresses.

Many of the new business developments are now incorporating water containment for irrigation that captures rain runoff and then of course returns the irrigation water back to the source and recycling it.

I have been thinking about a pond here for more than one reason, irrigation not being one of them. But I will, if completed use my gutter drains because I refer to this place as dry knob. I constantly watch storms approach from the southwest only to pass me on either side or even split (literally) and pass me on both sides.

[CSShaw]

I was always going to get around to harvesting the rainwater off the steel roofs and send it into a pond with a heavy pond liner from an outfit in Oregon. I had snow, nearly four feet one winter, and i wanted to harvest that as well.

When i was in Iowa i used to collect the rainwater at the corners of my mobile home and it was nothing to get a couple hundred gallons from one set of storms.

I feel for you Biz, that splitting of storms always happens when you need it the most as well. In the mountains i would watch it rain on the Cascades for days and we would only get the wind in the Highlands, all during the fire season. May it just rain down there for you...

Chrissy